Having recently completed post-production on his new feature, Bill, The Galactic Hero, Alex Cox (Repo Man, Sid & Nancy, Walker) is almost ready to release the film for free online. Adapted from Harry Harrison's novel of the same name, and funded through Kickstarter, the project has been a collaboration between Cox and students at the University of Colorado, where Cox currently teaches production and screenwriting. Blending science-fiction with satire, it's a micro-budget feature, shot in black and white, and incorporating Cox's own brand of dark comedy, and politically conscious, counter-culture attitude.

Having taken almost 30 years to get the film into production (studios considered it "too anti-war") it's fantastic that he has finally been able make the film on his own terms and without compromise, as it should be. You can read my review here.

I had the chance to talk to Alex about the film, the process of getting the book onto screen, comparisons to other sci-fi movies, working again with Iggy Pop, and little about what to expect next from this renegade director.

Now that Bill is completed, how did you find the experience overall, and would you consider making another film in this way?

Exhausting. I can't teach school and make a feature simultaneously again! So I will have to go back to making features and paying people.

You're credited as writer and director on the film, but there are additional directors listed in the end credits. Given the collaborative, low-budget approach taken with "Bill", would you say that you were the main creative force behind the film, or was this very much a group effort?

Harry Harrison was the main creative force behind the film! I directed most of the first act and all the third; act two and parts of act one were directed by students and recent graduates of CU. All films are group efforts; this one was no exception though the shared direction is unusual.

How did you find the experience of letting others take over direction for sections of the film? Were you quite comfortable and confident in their abilities?

It was a pleasure. We'd established a working style and pace and since they hadn't done features before they didn't know how fast we were going.

It sounds like you've been eager to adapt the book for quite a while. What inspired you to undertake the project now, and in this way?

Because this was an opportunity to make it. Probably the last one, since Harry died during the writing of the screenplay and I don't think he would have given us an option thereafter!

What do you think Harrison would have made of your film now that it's finished? Did he have ideas about how best to put it on screen?

He read two thirds of the script and gave notes, all of which were included. The return of the 'drinky drinky' robots was his idea. I think he would have liked the cast a lot - especially their ages. Take a look at the casualty figures for US troops in Afghanistan. Late teens to early thirties. That's who gets to die for a meagre wage. Our cast is exactly the median age of the poor youth who get dragged into combat - 21-28 yrs old. Conventional Hollywood movies cast actors who are way too old for the roles: Eastwood as a 70 year old policeman, Harrison Ford (looking really decrepit and bloated) as the captain of the space mission in Ender's Game. If you were in the military Deathwish Drang wouldn't look like Ernest Borgnine - she'd look live Devon Wykoff.

Many fans of the source material would envisage a film adaptation as a colourful, big-budget affair. What struck me about your film was, in part, its sombre tone. Although the humour of the book, and its basic plot structure, are very much retained, was it your intention to focus on the darker elements of the story, the character's desperation, and its caustic view of human nature? (Or am I just projecting?)

That's it. Black and white can be funny too - DR STRANGELOVE and parts of ICARUS are hilarious. But it's a great medium for telling a story without unnecessary things like colours getting in the way.

This is the first film you've made in black and white since Edge City (aka, Sleep Is For Sissies) in the late '70s - did you find working with your students on a DIY project like this one reminded you of that experience?

All films are DIY, one way or another. And I managed to include some Black and White in Death & The Compass, too. It's interesting how the hostility of the broadcasters to black and white was never matched by the commercial and rock video makers, who continue to use the form.

The film makes reference to two other famous movie franchises, Starship Troopers and Ender's Game. Was this a little nod to these films with similar themes, or a way to distinguish your film from the blockbuster treatment they received? (Or just a bit of fun?)

The original book is a riposte to "Starship Troopers." Heinlein was quite offended by it. And "Ender's Game" is the heir to Heinlein's militarist fantasy - though it has a more complex attitude to the aliens, and in that way it resembles Harry's work a little. The ending of the book "Ender's Game" was good, I thought, though they struggled with it in the film: not through any lack of money but rather a lack of imagination.

What did you think of the changes Verhoeven and Neumeier made to the novel Starship Troopers for their film version? It's generally recognised now as a satire on fascism and militarism itself, while also indulging in certain aspects of that fetishistic, militarist fantasy.

It just isn't a very good film. A bunch of good looking kids shooting at giant ants? That isn't what "Starship Troopers" was about. For all the money they spent they didn't pull much off, especially compared to what they achieved - in irony and humor and visual genius - with the original RoboCop.

James Miller's take on the character of Bill was interesting. I enjoyed his minimal style, as the character could easily have been overplayed by the wrong actor. Did you hold auditions for the role, and what won James the part?

We auditioned about 150 actors. Lily Grisafi, who played Eager, was the casting director. James wandered in by chance. He didn't know there were auditions that day and was on his way to take a test. He is a very strong actor: what's great about a feature is that the main actor gets to go through a character's trajectory and to change, whereas when you act in a short (which most student films are) you are able to create a character, but not to develop it.

Iggy Pop contributed a song to the soundtrack. How did he get involved, and was it good to work with him again?

I rang him up and asked him. My wife and I were talking about licensing a song from the new Bowie album but we don't know him or how to enquire. Tod said, why not ask Iggy? You can just call him... so I did. He downloaded the book to his e-reader, saw a rough cut of the film (same process as Repo Man, minus the e-reader) and away he went! It was great to work with him again. He is unchanged.

How do you feel about the fact that many of your earlier films, some of which were not successful at the time, have recently been re-discovered and are finding a new audience on DVD? Walker, for instance, was badly handled by Universal and was not well received by critics, but has since become something of a cult classic.

I'm glad that Walker finally got some recognition, thanks to the Criterion DVD. Unfortunately it is still relevant and needs to be seen.

Have you had any further thoughts about making the Rudy Wurlitzer puppets-riding-dogs western? Or indeed, do you have any other films you'd like to make or are planning on making?

I talked to Rudy yesterday about Zebulon and another project I'd like him to write -- it's called Gunfighter Nation (no relation to the wonderful book by Richard Slotkin). The maestro says he has one more cartridge in his chamber. So we'll see...

Alex, thank you for your time. We wish you the best in your future projects and endeavours. To the Skies Avaunt!